AA applies for Delta's Seattle-Haneda slot

[MetalMover]

It was expected that AA would put together a route application.

no, the issue is that DL is serving the route based on the award it was given.

AA has made impressive pleas for HND service before, was awarded it from JFK, and has sought it from LAX.

let's see how it plays out but just like the DAL case, I wouldn't rule out DL pushing the issue to court if its SEA-HND route is stripped.

and even if AA gets LAX-HND, it is a virtual certainty that they will terminate LAX-NRT.

AGAIN with the COURT?
I'm still waiting for the DL lawsuit regarding the LGA and DCA slots...

 

[FrugalFlyerv2.0]

l I wouldn't rule out DL pushing the issue to court
 

 
New Year = new predictions.  NOT!  Actually it's the same old song and dance:  DL #1.

 

[jimntx]

Link did not work.  Sorry.  Need further investigation.

 

[700UW]

Just clicked on it working fine.

 

[eolesen]

Here's a link to the DOT site and the application.

http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=DOT-OST-2010-0018-0402


Two slides that no amount of spin can overcome:

I looked thru DL's application, and it seems to be built entirely around trying to move flow traffic. AA did a pretty good job outlining how that strategy didn't work for DL at DTW and hasn't worked at SEA, either.

The only argument DL seems to have is trying to make a case for alliance distribution, and I don't know if that's going to be enough to overcome the two slides above.

Do you over-serve the #5 market at the expense of the #1 market? If demand really is as large as the slides indicate, there's a pretty good case to slighting the #5 market.

 

[CMH_GSE]

Looking at the above chart clearly shows, arguing for a SEA/HND route doesn't even make as much sense as a ORD/HND route.

The market is just not there for the SEA route to succeed and history on this is clearly against DL.

Wishing a market becomes a major gateway to Asia and having it happen are two different things.

 

[robbedagain]

that just cant be   awaiting to hear the spin on this one

 

[jimntx]

But, you just don't understand.  If there were only 20 SEA-HND passengers annually, the mere fact that DL is flying that route justifies it, period.  (And, they of course would be reported here as making a fortune in "quality revenue" from those 20 passengers.  I'll leave it to you to guess who would be doing that reporting.)

 

[700UW]

I just read through the application, very impressive and even have local community and business support.

AA did their due diligence with this application.

 

[FrugalFlyerv2.0]

Two slides that no amount of spin can overcome:

 

The market is just not there for the SEA route to succeed and history on this is clearly against DL.
 

 

But, you just don't understand.  If there were only 20 SEA-HND passengers annually, the mere fact that DL is flying that route justifies it, period.

 

I just read through the application, very impressive and even have local community and business support.
AA did their due diligence with this application.

 

 

[FWAAA]

I get why Delta decided to build up a big gateway to Asia from SEA. At the time, fuel was settled in around $3/gal and showed no signs of declining. Very long flights are extra-costly due to the extra fuel burned to carry all that fuel, so shorter flights to Asia (can't get much shorter from the USA mainland than from SEA) would burn significantly less fuel. So DL traded O&D for big fuel savings at SEA. What with AA making noise about competing in a big way at LAX and UA already owning SFO-Asia, DL had very few choices but to build up its own dominant hub at SEA.

When AA began DFW-HKG and DFW-PVG and made noises about DFW-PEK (which starts later this year), I predicted failure, as those are very long flights and AA probably wouldn't start off with high revenues. As fuel continues to drop in price, those flights don't look as costly, and thus won't burn thru cash the way I predicted they would.
Atlanta is a very long distance from China, but if fuel keeps dropping and stays low for a while, I could see DL giving ATL-China another whirl. ATL-HND won't work because of the restrictive HND operating times, but if the US gains more HND frequencies and Japan permits daytime arrivals and departures, that could change.

I read thru the AA application - gotta love "Seatless in Seattle."

 

[usfliboi]

http://www.capwiz.com/americanairlines/issues/alert/?alertid=64023366

 

[AirLUVer]

It was expected that AA would put together a route application.


and even if AA gets LAX-HND, it is a virtual certainty that they will terminate LAX-NRT.

 
Noooo.. say it ain't so!!!!  
 
Of course they are going to terminate the LAX-NRT route,  AA is planning to use the SAME FLIGHT # for the LAX HND route that they use for the current LAX NRT ROUTE.   And AA will code-share/JV on JL's route, so will maintain service to NRT via metal nuetral JV.

 

[commavia]

I read thru the AA application - gotta love "Seatless in Seattle."

 
Indeed.  Once again - it is great to see AA finally behaving aggressively once again.  "Seatless in Seattle" is a level of sarcasm I don't think we've seen since the "Crando" years.
 

Noooo.. say it ain't so!!!!  

 
I just think it's hysterical that we've gone from "the DOT can't take away Delta's authority" to "the DOT will never entertain the AA/Hawaiian request for new applications" to "Delta could still take this to court" (where have I heard that before?) to "if AA wins, they're going to cancel LAX-NRT."

 

[FrugalFlyerv2.0]

I read thru the AA application - gotta love "Seatless in Seattle."

 
+1
 
I flipped through the submission, and in addition to the "Seatless in Seattle", I also enjoyed AA mocking DL about the "seasonality" in the Tokyo market.  AA pointed out that no other carrier serving either HND or NRT experiences seasonality and that it is something WT DL made up.